Generations
The Day Disco Died (And How We Got It In The First Place)
TweetShareShareIn the late 1970s, there was only two opinions about a popular dance craze known as “disco.” It was either the best thing since the jitterbug or the worst thing since the Hindenburg. Very few had a view in the middle. For the critical ear, the monotonous beat, synthesizer hooks, flourishing strings and banal, often…
Read MoreSchool Prayer Outlawed (June 26, 1963)
TweetShareShareToday is the anniversary of a ruling that was far more transformative to American culture than Roe v. Wade (1973). On this day, school prayer was ruled unconstitutional (a year later the same SCOTUS would opine that Bible readings were equally wrong). It’s the day religion (Christianity) was essentially segregated…and barred in the educational curriculum…
Read MoreThe Long Play (LP) Vinyl Arrives!
TweetShareShare Today is a big day in the “Vinyl is Final” world, as it’s the day that 33 1/3 rpm records debuted. This format allowed for longer recordings (around 30 minutes per side). The LP (long play) would be a significant technological innovation for the coming “rock ‘n roll” era that relied upon “singles”…
Read MoreThe Introduction of the VCR
TweetShareShareTelevision was (and is) a transformative technology. It transformed how we processed information and received entertainment. It transformed how we interacted with our world. It transformed education, religion and government. And it introduced other transformative technologies, from the remote control to “smart” television. From rabbit ears to cable to satellite to streaming, television has reimagined…
Read MoreThe Cable News Network Reimagines the News
TweetShareShareThe emergence of cable television news reimagined how information was reported and consumed. With a 24/7/365 platform the Cable News Network (CNN) could report LIVE news visually, as it happened…with no commercial breaks if necessary. It was the brainchild of media mogul Ted Turner. Watch CNN in 1980… Unfortunately, cable news wasn’t good for radio.…
Read MoreThe Model T Defined an Era
TweetShareShareThe Model T was not Henry Ford’s first car, but it might’ve been his best. Also known as the “Tin Lizzie” or “Leaping Lena” or “Jitney” or “Flivver,” the Model T was the first truly affordable automobile. In 1999, it was honored as the “most influential car of the 20th century.” Manufactured between 1908 and…
Read MoreHeeeeeere’s The End, Johnny!
TweetShareShareThe Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was the drug of choice for late night insomniacs for three decades.The program was ranked #12 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. The undisputed King of Late Night talk show hosts, Johnny Carson (1925-2009) made his debut on October 1, 1962 at the NBC studio…
Read MoreWhy 2030 Will Look Nothing Like 1995
TweetShareShareIf you think the past quarter century has been transformative, buckle up buttercup. Yesterday (May 19, 2021) Microsoft announced that it’s scrapping the Internet browser Explorer–once the standard browser on most non-Apple computers. Born on August 16, 1995, Explorer is now done. It was just 25 years old. In the 2020s, we’ll see a flood…
Read MoreThe Race of the First Kentucky Derby
TweetShareShareToday is the 146th anniversary of America’s most storied horse race: the Kentucky Derby. The winning jockey was Oliver Lewis aboard a horse name Aristides. We have forgotten how black Americans, in the beginning, not only ran these thoroughbreds but also cared for them. In this first running of the Kentucky Derby, thirteen out of…
Read MoreAmerica Embraces Debt
TweetShareShare“Put it on my card!” It’s the American way. We buy now, pay later. The history for card purchases is nothing new. In fact, it was first described in an Edward Bellamy utopian work titled Looking Backward (1887). Bellamy employed the term “credit card” in his work as a way for a person to spend…
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